Because of massive debt, Ukraine is facing the treat of a cut-off supplies from Russia. On Monday, Slovakia signed a deal to deliver natural gas to Ukraine.
Under the agreement, Slovakia will send gas through a pipeline that was meant for transporting gas from Ukraine but is currently unused. To be able to send the gas, some technical changes are needed that might take several months.
The signing of a memorandum of understanding between the Slovak pipeline operator Eustream and Ukraine's Ukrtransgaz is another step in Ukraine's efforts to reduce its dependence on Russia. It has already agreed on gas supplies also from Germany, through Poland, as well as from Hungary. The German supplies, from utility RWE, already started this month.
Slovak officials had previously said Ukraine could get up to 10 billion cubic meters (353 billion cubic feet) of natural gas per year through the pipeline. Slovak Prime minister Robert Fico said Monday it could be up to nine billion cubic meters, about a fifth of Ukraine's gas needs.
